Starlight
by DasuDasuLUL
Summary: As the group is traveling across Spira, Tidus and Rikku become separated after an unexpected turn of events. Tidus x Rikku, Tikku, whatever you want to call it. My attempt at a concept that's been horribly done so many times before.
1. Midnight Tranquility

It was dark. The only light in the area came from the remains of a campfire. Light breathing could barely be heard in the shadows. Tidus was awake, stalking through the shadows, trying to be as stealthy as possible. He didn't want to be seen.

As he stepped through the trees, the breathing became louder. Where was it coming from? He looked around, squinting into the darkness. There it was. He stepped forward slowly and steadily, raising his arms.

There he was, right behind the other shadow in the night. He slowly reached around, the other figure still not alerted to his presence, before grabbing the entity around the waist and pulling it close.

"Ahh!" Rikku yell-whispered with false surprise as Tidus pulled her into his chest. She tilted her head back, looking up at him and resting on his chest. "Hey," she said quietly, glad that none of the others had woken up from the sudden, albeit brief, commotion.

Tidus looked down into her eyes. "So, you're still up too?" he asked, despite the fact that she was obviously awake.

"Yeah," she murmured before looking back straight ahead through a gap in the trees. "I thought everyone was asleep," she whispered absentmindedly, her true focus being not on the conversation but the view of the nighttime horizon.

"Not me! I couldn't rest, it's just too noisy out here in the middle of the woods. I'm surprised the rest of them didn't insist on moving on to an inn."

"Hmm. You'll be tired in the morning, you know."

Tidus undid his 'behind hug' and walked over to her side. "Nah, I've never needed much sleep anyway," he grinned with a rather large yawn.

Rikku laughed. "Then what was that?"

"My, eh, nightly deep breathing exercise. All Blitzball players do it. Keeps us alert and focused the next day."

"I see," she said, playing along and resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were locked on the Moonflow glowing in the distance. "It's pretty at night, isn't it?"

"Yup. I always wanted to see it at night." Tidus placed his chin on top of her head. They stood, staring silently into the distance in a euphoric half-sleep together.

They were suddenly brought back to reality by a rustling behind them. Wakka was awake, sitting up behind them. "Hey, it's the middle of the night. You should get some sleep, ya?"

Tidus couldn't help but laugh, if only in his head. Even after he had retired, Wakka still slept with a blitzball. Sleep had shaped his hair into a mass of twisting points and curls.

"What you smilin' at?" he asked groggily.

Rikku was also looking now, giggling lightly and burying her face in Tidus's chest in a feeble attempt to hide it. "Wakka, your hair!" she said, pointing.

He ran a hand through it, feeling the spikes but generally making it stick up even worse.

"Yeah, Wakka," Tidus said, "your hair looks like hell."

"I'm sure yours would too if you would get some sleep tonight, ya?" He waved a hand as if to say 'do whatever, I'm going to sleep' and dropped back down almost as though he had passed out.

"I guess he's right," Rikku whispered, "I'm gonna get some rest now. Goodnight." She gave Tidus a smile and went to a warm place by the embers.

Tidus stepped over and sat down next to her, staring at her sleeping face in the dim light of the dying fire, before he laid down close to her, but not too close, and fell asleep.


	2. Morning Routine

Tidus woke early the next morning to find Rikku lying right next to him with her arm lightly across his chest. He reached up and gently stroked her hand before gazing over at her face, peacefully asleep in the light of the coming sun.

He stared up at the leafy trees surrounding the clearing they had made camp in. Feeling Rikku stir, he quickly moved his hand and turned to her. No, she was just rolling over, nuzzling closer into his shoulder. He slowly worked his arm under her neck, cradling her head and running his fingers through her hair, which was let down for the night. A rare occasion.

He looked around to make sure no one else was awake and leaned down, kissing her forehead lightly. She squinted and suddenly opened her eyes, awake. Had she been pretending all along?

"Did you just-," she began to ask.

"Oh! Glad you're finally up," Tidus said, glad to interrupt that particular question, "I've been laying here for a good half hour waiting for you to wake up. You were on top of me like this so I didn't want to disturb your rest by moving."

"Oh," she whispered, seeing the others still sleeping. She stared down at the rest of her body lying halfway on top of his and rolled over onto the ground, blushing slightly.

Tidus got up and began to work with the fire, trying to kindle a new one. Rikku sat down beside him and rested her head on his shoulder, still half-asleep. Tidus would have been sorry for waking her had it not been for this moment by the fire.

He leaned his head against hers and stared at the charred logs and ashes. He though with disappointment that he couldn't make a fire of either situation. The fire was already burned out and Rikku was just his friend, wasn't she?

He began to reach his arm around her back to her shoulder when all of a sudden something hard was slapped into his hand. Damn it, there was Wakka again. How did he keep sneaking up on them like this?

"There's you some wood, ya? Build a fire and I'll get some food."

"Good morning to you too. What's that? Oh, I'm doing ust fine, thanks!" he yelled behind him to Wakka as he halfheartedly tossed the log into the fire.

Rikku sat up and handed him some rocks from her pouch, finally coming into the world of reality. Tidus took some dry grass from around the log and began to slap the rocks together. They sparked suddenly and the grass burst into flame with unexpected speed.

Tidus let out a short hiss of air with pain as he held his arm, looking at his arm with a grimace.

Riku gasped. "Are you okay?" she asked, sounding more as if he had just lost his arm than slightly burned his hand.

"Ugh, I'm fine," he said, still staring at his reddened palm. He prodded it and made the same hissing sound as a second wave of pain shot up through his arm.

"Here," Rikku said optimistically before grabbing his arm, "I'll kiss it to make it better,"

Tidus quickly jerked his arm away, not wanting anything to touch his hand for quite a while. "The offer is tempting, Rikku," he said truthfully, "but I don't think that would help much."

She sat up on her knees and leaned forward, giving him a gentle peck on the cheek. "Then I'll just kiss you there, instead," she whispered into his ear.

Tidus wrapped one arm around her and leaned his head on her shoulder, a sort of one-handed hug, before looking over at Wakka who was staring at them, shaking his head slightly. "First Yuna and now her, eh man?" he shouted as he reached up for some bananas hanging off a tree. "You turnin' into quite the ladies' man, ya?"

Tidus and Rikku both quickly moved apart before turning to glare at him. Wakka didn't seem to take notice.

"Just stay away from Lulu, she might shrink your head, ya?" As he said this, a rather cranky Lulu sat up and zapped the entire branch off the tree and onto Wakka's somewhat thick skull.

"Wake everyone else up, you two," she said to them as she considered whether or not to ignite the branch Wakka was struggling to remove from his person.

"Right."

"Okay."

As the sun rose, the travelers were soon on their way to face the day ahead…


	3. Trip to the Temple

"So, just exactly where are we going?" Tidus asked, glaring down at his tiring legs and rumbling stomach.

"There's an ancient temple hidden in these woods," Auron answered coolly, "summoners and guardians only. No one else knows about it."

"Well, at least we know where it is, right?" Tidus asked hopefully. "R-right?" No one answered, but Auron had a sly smirk and Rikku giggled slightly, although loudly.

"You know, Rikku," he began with a childishly wicked grin, "this is a _rain_ forest. A nice thick one where it _storms _every day. Extra thunder and everything! I hear it's pretty neat because the lightning is _super big_."

She shot him a look that was a mixture of fear and anger before dashing over and jumping on his back. "My legs are tired," she said over his grunts, "carry me there pleeeease?"

The others watched and laughed. "You had it coming," Lulu grinned.

As they continued onward, Rikku leaned her head into Tidus's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck, closing her eyes. Despite the added strain to the already monotonous hike to the temple that they didn't even know was there, Tidus couldn't say he disliked having Rikku there on his back.

He turned over to her head on his shoulder, mere inches from his own face. "Sorry if I scared you earlier with the whole rain thing," he whispered, "I was just playing around."

She nuzzled her chin deep into the crevice formed by his shoulder and neck. "It's alright. I just did this for a free ride and so I could--," she stopped mid-sentence, her face turning a shade somewhere between a bad sunburn and a ripe cherry.

Tidus grinned. "So you could what?" he asked somewhat flirtatiously.

"Eh, so, uh, I could… get some sleep on the way there! At least that was my plan until you woke me up, you meanie!" She gave him a few playful whacks on the chest before returning her arms to their previous position around his neck. "I like being up here," she whispered suddenly, "and I can tell that you like me being here, too."

Tidus slowed suddenly but managed not to come to a complete stop at this statement. "I, er, you uh-," he was quite taken aback and was unable to form complete sentences at the moment.

Rikku smiled and laughed. "I knew it!"

"Well, I guess it is good exercise and the company is pretty nice," he said, trying to change the topic with little success.

"So you admit it!"

"Admit what?"

Rikku took on a rather playful seductive voice. "That you enjoy having a young, dashingly beautiful girl ride around on your back across Spira."

Tidus breathed a short sigh of relief that she wasn't being entirely serious about the situation. "Absolutely, my lady," he began, continuing the routine, "and we will soon arrive at our temple to be wed by the great summoner Yuna and her mystical directionally impaired group of followers."

Tidus stared over at the others who had been heatedly debating on which direction to go to find the great and revered 'Holy Temple of the Repetitive Green Forest' while Rikku looked ahead, content to ride around all day as long as she wasn't walking.

"…No, the moss means that the sun shines the other direction!"

"Wakka, if that was true then don't you think we'd be burnt and crispy by now?"

"I don't know about the rest of you but I already am!"

"Either way I don't think moss on a rock should decide. My tree density way of going by it is definitely more accurate."

"You're telling me that you want to find a temple by looking at the number of trees?"

"It's better than looking at mold on a rock!"

Rikku suddenly half stood up on Tidus's shoulders, but he managed to hold the weight. Luckily, Rikku was extremely light. Her eyes widened and she pointed into the distance. "Is that it?" she asked quietly. Everyone turned to stare at her.

"What?"

"Is what it?"

"Where?"

"No, no, that's just boulder."

"Looks more like a mountain to me…"

"Small mountain, isn't it Wakka? It's a boulder."

"Big boulder, isn't it Lulu? Either way, it's not a te-,"

Kimahri slammed his weapon into the ground and growled loudly. "Rikku see temple. Kimahri see temple. Yuna see temple?"

Yuna looked at him with a bit of relief from Wakka and Lulu's constant bickering. "Yes, that is definitely a temple."

"Mm. Tidus see temple?"

Tidus glanced at him fearfully. "Of course!"

"Yes. Auron see temple?"

Auron blinked a few times behind his glasses before taking a big swig of gin from the bottle he kept on his side at all times. Sticking his head forward, he squinted at the object in the distance. "Let's go. Much better than listening to these two all day."

"Kimahri think we all see temple. Wakka or Lulu still not see temple?" Both were silent. "Good. We go to temple."

Everyone was silent from that point onward.

As Tidus continued to give Rikku her rather flirtatious piggy back ride, he reached up and caressed her hand. She glanced at him kissed him lightly on the cheek before lightly placing her head directly on top of his and falling asleep for the rest of the trip there…


	4. A Deep, Dark Place

Rikku woke up to an amazing sight. Yes, there was Tidus's face next to hers, but this was not the amazing sight she was thinking of. They were at the temple, and a temple it was. It appeared to be ancient and crumbling to bits, possibly not even a shrine to Yevon at all but some other ancient civilization.

"Are we here?" she whispered in Tidus's ear.

"Oh, hey, you're up."

Rikku squinted, focusing her vision from her short rest upon Tidus's shoulder. She finally released her grip on him and stood on her own feet for the first time, slightly wobbly. She began to tip sideways and Tidus grabbed her in a warm embrace, keeping her held upright.

"Is it safe for me to let go?"

Rikku slowly leaned out of his arms, despite her heart telling her to stay, before standing up straight, perfectly balanced. "I'm good now," she smiled.

"Watch your step," Auron said, marking the beginning of his usual 'stay on guard because we don't know what to expect' speech. "Stay on guard. This is a new location that no one else even knows about, so we don't know what to expect."

The others nodded and cautiously proceeded inside. It was dark, dank, and had a strange smell. Lulu generated a light spell, but looking to an area farther than three meters away was like being blind.

They all happened to be staring into the distance when suddenly Kimahri, always alert with his catlike night vision, suddenly shouted "Stop!"

He said it just in time for the group to pull Wakka back from a will covered in holes. Flames began to jet out of the holes and Wakka looked down to find a broken string at his feet, one end leading into each wall.

"Everyone, watch your damned step!" Auron said with a bit of irritation in his voice.

They began their journey ahead, keeping eyes on the floor, ceiling, and behind them. Eventually they came to a central chamber, a sort of 'lobby' room. There was a veiled door and a variation of the song of the Fayth could be heard from within. So it was real after all, a secret temple for summoners only.

Yuna proceeded inside and the others waited calmly, albeit Rikku who couldn't stop exploring every crevice of the place.

Yuna shortly emerged, weary as usual. It fell silent, however. A deathly silence; the singing had stopped.

"Why you think it got so quiet alla' sudden?" Wakka asked, a small hint of paranoia in his voice.

Suddenly, the room began shaking. Lulu fell and the only source of light flickered about all over before the room went dark. Rubble began to fall from the ceiling, getting progressively larger by the sound of things. "Run!" Rikku yelled finally, the danger and darkness getting to her last nerve almost as much as thunder and lightning.

A crash was heard down a hallway, echoing throughout the room, followed by a scream. Lulu finally restored the light, shining it in the direction of the scream. Rikku was on the ground, her leg pinned by a large chunk of rock. The floor was splitting below her.

Tidus stared in shock and awe before screaming, "Rikku!" He charged down the hallway, frantically trying to unpin her ankle from the floor. The rock shifted slightly and then the entire floor shattered beneath them.

They both hit the bottom, Auron shouting down over the chaos, "No floor… can't exit… different route… back…"

Tidus's world began to spin before everything went black.

The two of them regained consciousness at around the same time. Tidus sat up with his head spinning. Rikku woke up shouting in pain and sheer fear.

"Rikku!" Tidus yelled over her cries, hearing her extremely nearby, "Where are you?"

She stopped for a moment and seemed to be glad to hear that she wasn't down here alone. "Here!" she called, still in pain.

Through a few moments of tense shouting back and forth, Tidus finally found her general location. It was pitch black and they needed a source of light to do anything.

"I think my arm's broken," she cringed, "reach into my pouch and grab a flare. It's an Al Bhed device that lights up a room."

With a bit of feeling about and vague descriptions of a 'flare', Tidus finally found it and followed Rikku's directions. They could now see each other clearly in the bright red light of the flare.

Rikku's leg was, surprisingly, relatively unharmed. Her arm, however, was another story. "I think I landed on it coming down," she began, trying not to move it. "I don't know much about broken bones, but we'll have to set it. I can't do it myself. Tidus, I want you to do it."

The mere thought of it made Tidus cringe. Her lower right arm was slightly swollen and bent at an odd angle, but thankfully neither of them appeared to be bleeding at all. However, just looking at it was painful.

Rikku sat up on her good arm and held the damaged one out to Tidus, who stared at it with a look that was a good mixture of fear, revulsion, and pain. She closed her eyes and turned away before whispering, "Go."

After staring for a few brief seconds to analyze how he would go about doing this, Tidus quickly grabbed the arm and shifted it into the proper position with as much speed as possible and a sickening pop. Rikku screamed louder than anything Tidus had heard before and tears began to stream down her face, but the arm did look better.

Turning on his male instinct, Tidus quickly sat down beside her and held her in his arms, stroking her hair in an attempt to soothe her pain. As she lay on him shivering, Tidus slowly and carefully undid her scarf.

"What are you doing?" she managed to finally ask.

Tidus wrapped it around his neck, letting a large loose section dangle in front of him, before nodding and removing it. "Here's a sling for your arm."

She nodded and he got behind her, slipping it behind her neck. She gently rested the arm in it. Tidus slowly wrapped his hands around her midsection, pulling her back against his body. The place was deathly cold, and with Rikku's injury and lack of long clothes, Tidus felt the need to keep her warm.

She rested against him, lip quivering slightly but keeping her eyes shut tight. "I just want this to all end," she said. "I don't like it down here, I don't like any of this mess. I just like you, Tidus. I'm glad you're stuck down here with me. I'm glad that I'm not down here alone."

Tidus only half-listened and nodded before kissing her cheek lightly, which seemed to be enough comfort for her to stop talking for a while. Tidus used this opportunity to take his turn and go into shock. They sat there together, flare slowly burning out, and Tidus decided to deal with the entire issue later. This was too much.

Rikku reached up with her good arm and placed her palm on Tidus's cheek. "We need to find an exit," she said, pointing out one of the more obvious issues in their predicament.

Tidus got up and bent to pick up the flare.

"No!" Rikku shouted suddenly. "That's really hot!" She didn't want him to burn both his hands in the same day.

"Then how are we supposed to see?" Tidus asked with frustration as he kicked the flare across the chamber.

It skidded across the ground and came to stop in front of a large circular disc resting up against a wall.

"What's that?" Rikku asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I dunno," Tidus answered, walking over and examining the object. It was about twice Tidus's size and made of stone. He leaned up against its side and the thing shifted. A small bead of light came through the new opening.

"A way out!" Rikku yelled with joy.

"Help me move this thing!" Tidus said, suddenly putting all his strength into rolling the boulder out of the doorway.

They joined together and pushed, opening a passage into a short hallway that led out into a gigantic field of white and yellow roses…

(A/N: I know there wasn't as much fluff in this chapter as the others, but as you can probably guess by the rose field there should be plenty to make up for it in the next update!)


	5. Blossoming Love

(Oh, wow. It's only been, what, about six months since I've last added anything to this story? I'm not going to try to come up with excuses sorry for not updating and all that. I could go into horrible reasons thought of right here on the spot, but that would be rude and, frankly, the only real reason I can think of is sheer laziness and lack of the ideas and motivation to continue. However, reading how much all the rest of you readers have enjoyed it thus far convinced me to keep pushing through and continue on with the story. My writing is definitely a little rusty so this will probably come out shorter than I'd prefer, but either way, I'm not dead and do have plans to continue! Speaking of which, I suppose that's enough of my ramblings and time for our heroes' journey to continue.)

Tidus and Rikku both let out a cry as they stepped into the full light of the field. Compared to the utter blackness of the caved-in passageway which they had just emerged from, the light present in the field of roses and its deep blue sky overhead was almost as intense as staring directly into the sun.

"Ooh!!" Rikku's Al-Bhed eyes were the first to adjust to the light. "Tidus, look at this!" she squealed, excited from a mixture of being out of the dark as well as being in what was quite possibly the most romantic place in Spira with the boy she secretly so adored.

Tidus squinted into the light. "Oh!" he gasped with surprise, a reaction not unlike that shown by his companion.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Rikku asked, "Let's go!" Using her good arm, Rikku grabbed Tidus's hand and began to run into the field, pulling him along behind her. He followed along without protest.

She stopped suddenly once they had reached a small clearing in the central area. The pair was completely surrounded by the roses. Rikku let go of Tidus's hand and sat down in the middle of them all. Tidus glanced around quickly before laying down next to her.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked nervously. Although they were no longer confined in the dark, prisonlike tunnel, the rose garden still seemed to be completely surrounded by the temple's high walls.

Tidus looked up at her from his laying position. "We can worry about that later. We should just relax here a while, don't you think?" He patted the open ground to his right a few times, beckoning her over, before leaving his arm resting in its extended position.

Rikku nervously laid down, resting her neck across his outstretched arm, and cuddled gently into his side. He wrapped the arm around her shoulder and rested his head against hers.

Rikku listened to his steady breathing, his heart beating. She closed her eyes as they both lay there in the sun letting the world's problems drift away.

"Tidus," she murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Do you love me?" He shifted below her slightly, obviously not expecting the question. She already wished she hadn't asked.

"Well, uh… of course I love you! We all love you! We're Yuna's Guardians, we look out for each other. We're all a big family."

She was staring at him now, eyes wide open with her face's color standing out in the field like a single red rose. Tidus looked back into her eyes nervously; she looked terribly upset.

"But…" he whispered. Neither of them blinked.

"Y-yes?" Rikku barely was able to choke out an answer.

"They don't love you like I love you," he said.

Tidus wrapped his arms around her, taking care not to disturb her injured arm, and pulled her in close before kissing her straight on the lips. Rikku did not resist, this was what she had wanted. She worked her good arm behind his back and returned the kiss. After several seconds that seemed to pass by far too fast, they pulled away from one another, still laying on the ground. "I love you too," she whispered into his ear. They both lay there together in the field, slowly drifting away into sleep together…


End file.
